If
'fair use' in the broad terms of American law would be available in many
more countries it would make sense to allow it on Wikimedia projects, but at
the moment it is an almost exclusively American law, and raises many
problems on non-English projects.
Which again shows that "fair use" images are not free, applicable only
on american territory, and so is again an argument to do away with
fair use image on wikis in all languages, including the english
language.
In another related thread it was coprrectly pointed out that there is
a difference between the italian wiki and italy. I'd like to point out
that there is a similar difference between the english wiki and the
usa and gt britain. There is also Australia, New Zealand, Canada and
India to consider, where many people have english as their primary
language. Not to mention the rest of the world. :-)
Speaking for the Canadian situation I am guided by the ruling of the
Supreme Court of Canada in the ruling in CCH Canada vs. The Law Society
of Upper Canada. The fair use criteria of US law (which were themselves
based on precedent and not codified until 1909) were reviewed favorably
by the Court in attempting to understand "fair dealing".
Philosophically the Court appears to have taken the stand that copyright
law is about balancing two divergent interests.
Ec